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U.S. circulates draft amendment to NSG guidelines

Sandeep Dikshit

“More or less to India’s satisfaction”

Draft was first handed over to Germany
IAEA had approved India-specific safeguards accord

NEW DELHI: The United States has circulated the draft amendment to the guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) ahead of its meeting on August 21 and 22 to consider India’s case, senior officials here have confirmed.

The draft was finalised in consultation with India and first handed over on Thursday to Germany, which heads the NSG.

The draft drops “gratuitous” references made on committing the NSG members to ensuring that India adopted full-scope safeguards at the earliest, said the officials.

India has resisted full-scope safeguards and wants only those plans identified by it to be under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.

Consultations

The officials said the draft, after being fine-tuned several times in consultation with the U.S., was more or less to India’s satisfaction.

The 45-nation NSG must approve by consensus an amendment to its guidelines to accommodate India in global civil nuclear commerce. This has been necessitated because India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Earlier, the IAEA had approved by consensus an India-specific safeguards agreement. Besides the U.S., other major countries such as France, Russia and the United Kingdom are backing India’s case at the NSG.

In case the NSG agrees to amend the guidelines to accommodate India, Washington plans to place the India-U.S. 123 Agreement before Congress on September 8 for its consideration. India will also sign Inter-Governmental Agreements with several other countries such as France and Russia.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador David Mulford had said the draft was being framed in close consultation with India and it would be released to the NSG members any day.

Diplomatic offensive

He had also said the U.S. had launched a major diplomatic offensive led by President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to persuade some NSG members with non-proliferation concerns to back India’s case.

New Delhi too has dispatched nearly a dozen envoys all over the world to convince the nations of India’s record in not exporting sensitive nuclear technology and its commitment to the principle of complete nuclear disarmament.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher told journalists in Tokyo on Friday that Washington was pushing Japan and other NSG members to agree to a waiver for India “expeditiously” for enabling the nuclear deal with India.

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